Four killed in market explosion in Afghanistan

An injured Afghan man receives treatment at a hospital following an explosion at a mobile phone market in Khost province on September 17, 2017. Four people were killed and 14 others wounded in an explosion at a mobile phone market in southeastern Afghanistan on September 17, officials said. “The blast happened at around noon in a market where people go to download music and videos to their mobile phones,” Khost provincial police chief Faizullah Khairat told AFP. FARID ZAHIR / AFP

Four people were killed and 14 others wounded in an explosion at a mobile phone market in southeastern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said.

“The blast happened at around noon in a market where people go to download music and videos to their mobile phones,” Khost provincial police chief Faizullah Khairat told AFP.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but the volatile province bordering Pakistan is contested by the Taliban.

Music was one of the many forms of entertainment banned during the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule and the militants have previously attacked such markets.

Khairat said the explosion was caused by a “remote controlled bomb”.

Khost health department director Habib Shah Ansari confirmed four people had been killed and said “over a dozen wounded” had been taken to hospitals in the provincial capital of the same name.

Afghan security forces have been struggling to beat back a resurgent Taliban since US-led NATO forces ended their combat mission in 2014.